Have you tried the offline firmware by Zurk? Works great.  My chumby has been running non stop through the outage.

I second what BoloMKXXVIII and kgeissler said.

The "second best" substitute would be a Raspberry Pi (costs $35, or $43 shipped) which takes a full size SD card, has 256MB RAM, and is ARM architecture.  It's designed to be totally open, and in addition to HDMI and composite out, also has a DSI connector for an LCD panel and a CSI connector for a camera.

Over on Kickstarter there is a project called Instacube, which looks like a portable picture frame device:
http://kck.st/PaLgqE

It runs Android, so I wonder if some day it will be able to run the Chumby Android app.

After using Zurk's offline-mode homebrew during the outage yesterday and today, I can confidently say that I am prepared should chumby.com die! My investment is safe.

Bobsz, check the manufacturers site as to how they like you to treat their tablets power wise.  I believe it will eventually diminish the capacity of the battery if you never take them off the plug to discharge.  Apple for instance, likes you to discharge their iPads and iPhones once a month.

From apples site...

"Use Your iPad Regularly

For proper reporting of the battery’s state of charge, be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down)."

@BoloMKXXVIII- Thanks for those points. The Playbook does have really good sound for a tablet. But like you said, "a true (Chumby) replacement does not exist." I guess we're really lucky we happened onto them when we did! I've got a C1 "mothballed" for insurance. Who knows, it'll probably outlast my hearing and eyesignt anyway!

Who is leaving their Chumbys? I rarely discard tech. It usually get repurposed. I had an Android tablet (hacked Nook Color) but it had a hardware failure. I have not replaced it. The Playbook was purchased so i could easily video chat with my Sister. My Chumby one has been partially replaced with a Grace Digital radio but I still use the Chumby one for news, weather, etc. The Infocast 8 moved to the garage where it feeds me music and photos while I am working on projects. If you want more Chumbys you will have to look elsewhere.  ;-)

This device has terrible reviews. I think there is a market for this type of device but this one "ain't it".

Sorry all, I think I got this topic a little confused because I was originally just looking for a decent affordable internet radio alternative on another thread. But we can all dream of finding more Chumbys someday. Nothing else comes close.

Here's a little information on the Blackberry Playbook. I bought one a couple of weeks ago primarily for streaming music, but also wanted to try my first Tablet. I had it in my mind that a Tablet might somehow be a partial Chumby substitute. I don't think that's going to happen. I know the form factor of the Archos mentioned above might be closer to a Chumby, but I read about it's shortcomings.

First of all, the thing that brought me to the Playbook was the reported sound quality. Considering how small the device and the speakers are, that's definitely true. The device is laid out more for use in landscape mode, so the speakers are on left and right edges. There's an interesting sound enhancement that may just be a coincidence, but I doubt it: as you hold it with two hands, your hands are cupped next to the speakers, projecting the sound towards your ears. You really can hear the stereo effects. Midrange and high ranges are beautiful and crisp. The back of the unit vibrates a little to add a little more bass. I plugged in my good Sennheiser headphones to check out the sound, and it's remarkably strong and good. Some devices are too weak to power these headphones, but the BB is great. It has a feature called "headphone boost" that really works. The sound is better than my old Sansa Fuze.

One problem is that there's no "native" player for streaming radio, which I guess is true of most tablets. But the online players from Shoutcast, Sky.fm, etc etc all work fine. There's actually a free app to stream directly from links, which is just like MyStreams. There are other pay player apps but I don't see the need for them. The proprietary browser is speedy enough with flash so that videos and music play fine. (No Hulu or Netflix yet.) Resolution and sound on videos is great.

The browser can't be customized much at all.

Note that this is a 7" tablet, so some of the fonts run small. But it's very easy to hold in your hands and use.

A word about the apps in general: the selection is growing but still limited, especially native BB apps. Android apps are being ported to it, but they can be buggy. This Tablet has a "business" edge to it that's not at all like the "Playbook" name. (Some of the "swipes" you use are non-intuitive.) For me, not being Android is a big plus, because it's *not* Google. The BB OS is very nice, due for an update soon. A great thing about these non-Android apps- they ask for very few "permissions." Google is not watching you 24/7. There is still some hope for privacy. Even if BB collects my data, better them than Amazon.

Basic Chumby-like functions like weather are built in, besides having the whole web to play with. Nice photo viewer. The clock makes you appreciate Chumby. The clock face has two choices: analog or digital. Of course, there's no way to have anything like channels changing apps.

Of course, it has all the typical tablet things like cameras. Battery life is excellent. And everything works right in this Tablet- the touchscreen, word completion, the speedy OS and browser, and the beautiful screen and sound. BTW, the sound is loud enough to fill a small room without distortion. Not quite as loud as a C1, but very pleasant. If anybody wants to know about the non-Chumbylike properties of the Tablet, just ask. I think the 16 GB I got was a great deal at $169. They have working models on display at most Radio Shacks if you want to play with it. It makes the no-name Androids look like old clunkers. BTW, I got this from Office Depot online, which had *slow* free shipping and sent it to me without even a packing slip inside. But it arrived fine once it finally got here.